World of Warcraft: Forever has one global unlock moment, and Blizzard finally put the regional clock on paper. Its launch article of October 30 lists the exact local time Forever opens in eight time zones, and an official starter guide published October 28 walks through the sequence you hit on your first login — an Experience Preset screen you only ever see once, then a ruleset, then your character.

If you have reserved a name, or you plan to be logged in at the opening minute, this is the short list of things worth deciding in advance.

The clock: 3:00 p.m. PST on November 4

Blizzard's launch article gives one anchor time — 3:00 p.m. PST on November 4 — and converts it per region:

Two things to read carefully there. First, most of the world logs in on November 5, not November 4 — Europe, Taiwan, Korea and ANZ all land on the calendar day after the Americas. Blizzard itself flags this with asterisks on the November 4 entries. Second, mainland China is not on Blizzard's list; the UTC+8 entry is Taiwan, and by our own arithmetic a UTC+8 clock reads 7:00 a.m. on November 5. That conversion is ours, not Blizzard's.

Everything below assumes you already have what the starter guide says you need: a Battle.net account, and either an active World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time. Forever is included with the subscription; it is not a separate purchase. The base game runs on Windows and Mac with keyboard and mouse, and controller support ships in a beta state — treated as a work in progress by Blizzard rather than a finished feature.

Step one, and you only see it once: the Experience Preset

The first time you log in, before you pick a ruleset, Forever asks you to Choose Your Experience Preset. There are two, and each one flips the same six settings in opposite directions:

Blizzard's own advice is explicit: if you are not sure, start with Enhanced. The trade-off is mostly about how much the game tells you. Classic turns off the map markers and objective blobs that modern players take for granted, which matters more than it sounds in a version with more than 1,000 new quests across the 1–60 journey, including brand-new zones like the Riverglades and Zephras Isle where nobody has 2004 muscle memory to fall back on. Enhanced shows you where to go.

What the preset does not touch is game rules: XP rates, loot, mob strength and difficulty are identical either way. It is a starting point, not a difficulty setting, and every individual option can be changed later under Game Menu > Options — Blizzard's overview article and independent write-ups both place the preset switch specifically at Options > System > Preset.

The one thing you cannot do is see the screen again. After your first login it never reappears, so it is worth spending ten seconds on it rather than clicking through.

Step two: the ruleset, which is the choice that actually binds you

The ruleset replaces the realm list. You choose it before you create a character, and at launch there are four:

• Normal — PvP is available at your discretion.
• PvP — open-world combat against the opposing faction is a standing risk.
• Roleplay — naming and behaviour rules for players immersing themselves as characters.
• Roleplay-PvP — the same conventions plus open-world PvP risk.

Hardcore is planned for after launch, with no date given.

The binding part is the one that catches groups out: characters can group, join guilds, run dungeons and raid only with players on the same ruleset and the same faction. Blizzard's starter guide says this plainly, and so does its overview — if you want to play with friends, agree on both the ruleset and the faction before anyone creates a character. There is no announced free transfer between rulesets, which is why our RP-PvP ruleset report and the realmless architecture guide are worth reading before the 3 p.m. rush rather than after.

Step three: HD or SD models, per character

Every time you create a character you pick High Definition (HD) or Standard Definition (SD) models and animations. This is cosmetic only — no effect on abilities or progression — and it is changeable later in the Options Menu or at a Barbershop in game.

Note that the preset and this choice are independent. A player who picked Classic can still make one character in HD, and vice versa; the preset only sets the default.

Three things worth doing before the unlock

1. Decide your ruleset and faction with your group now, in writing. This is the only choice in the sequence that cannot be undone by opening the options menu, and Blizzard has announced no transfers.
2. Update your operating system and graphics drivers before installing. That is Blizzard's own pre-launch advice in its overview guidance, not ours.
3. Know what you are getting for free. Forever is included with a subscription; the Skyborne race is not. Playing one requires the Heroic Pack or a higher digital upgrade, Skyborne start on Zephras Isle (levels 1–12), and their class options depend on faction — Horde-aligned Skyborne can be Shamans, Alliance-aligned Skyborne can be Mages.

Name reservation, for players with the Heroic Pack or above, ran from October 27 through November 3 and covered up to three characters — see our two-name system guide for how the first-name and second-name structure works, and why the full combination has to be unique within your region.

Original editorial illustration by RealmList, generated for this article. This is artwork, not game footage or official promotional material.